The Red Trail
by getaroof
Summary: Dean closed the door to his motel room, put the keys on a small table in the corner and dropped his knife on a flowered bedspread on Sam's bed. It was a long day. He finally tracked down the candidate for president and killed him. At least that was what almost everyone thought, but he knew this motherfucker was a shapeshifter and he was trying to kill the real candidate.


Dean closed the door to his motel room, put the keys on a small table in the corner and dropped his knife on a flowered bedspread on Sam's bed. It was a long day. He finally tracked down the candidate for president and killed him. At least that was what almost everyone thought, but he knew this motherfucker was a shapeshifter and he was trying to kill the real candidate. Dean looked at his reflection in the mirror and noticed that the monster had left him a gift - a huge, thick booger in his hair. He touched it with a grimace and tried to get rid of it, but it was so sticky that he had to shake it off his fingers to the bin. The rest of it got stuck in his short hair. He decided to take a quick shower before going for a drink he needed so badly. He took off his jacket and t-shirt, pulled off his jeans and walked into the bathroom. He knew women like a real man, but a real man cannot be dirty and smell like shit, even Cas wouldn't stand his smell and appearance right now. Dean treasured a few minutes under hot water in the shower. He felt relaxed and cleansed not only from the dirt he was covered with, but for a short time, from all of his worries. He stepped out of the shower and cold air fanned his body. He shivered and tried to find bath towels to dry himself, but he found only one, fortunately big enough to be wrapped around his hips. Then he put on clean clothes and suddenly realized he's too tired to go for a drink, so he opened one of those small bottles of whisky they put in motel rooms, got a sip of it and threw himself on the bed. A few minutes later, as it seemed to Dean, he was woken up by the sound he knew so well. Cas always announced himself with the swoosh of his wings and even if he could quiet them he wouldn't do it, as it was like his private doorbell. Lying face down Dean didn't see Cas, and decided not to raise his head.

"Dude, I had a long night, fly away," Dean mumbled into the pillow. Cas ignored the cool reception he received.

"Hello Dean, we need to talk,"

"Cas, really, I was running like a moron all around the sewers to catch this shitty shapeshifter almost all night, I need sleep. Whatever it is, I don't care."

"But Dean, it is strange, even for me, I don't know how to deal with it," said Cas with a worried expression, but Dean didn't see that.

"Okay, you've got one minute. But if it's another puppy, I'll kill ya." Dean sat on his bed and rubbed his eyes. Cas was standing in his trench coat, and what was strange, he was wriggling with excitement.

"You know that even I cannot explain this in one minute, one minute is only sixty seconds, and..."

"Cas!" Dean interrupted him with menace in his eyes.

"I have found an amazingly good restaurant, and it's called "Sam's dinner". I found it so funny, that it's called like your brother, isn't it?" Cas looked at Dean and saw he's looking for something to throw at him. "I shall continue then... So I had detected some evil vibe near the restaurant, and decided to look for it and destroy it, as usual. And you know what, Dean?" Cas waited for Dean's reaction for a few seconds, so Dean gave up.

"Okey, hit me".

"I don't want to hit you, I would definitely hurt you, and I don't want to. You are my best friend. But I can tell you what happened next. As I was walking through the parking lot I saw a man without legs lying on the ground. Some extremely vile creature did this to him. I don't know what it was."

"That's new, you don't know something" Dean woke up completely. "You're sain' that he had no legs? Many creatures eat up their victims, but legs?" Dean stood up, grabbed his green cloth bag and started to rummage through it.

"Bobby had to have something about this crap, he had stuff about everything, it must be somewhere here," and he pulled out the bulky leather-bound journal and started to flick through it.

"Could you look for this later, Dean? I want to show you that man." Cas moved closer to him silently. "Only you can solve this puzzle," he said standing in front of his friend.

"All right, let me pack my stuff and we can go," replied Dean pretending he didn't notice that Cas was way too close. He grabbed his bag, put the knife and Bobby's journal in it and started to look for his car keys.

"Let me take you there, with me it would be much faster," Cas suggested.

"No way, man. I remember last time we did this. I still can't touch my..." Dean didn't finish the sentence because the angel interrupted him.

"Don't worry, this time I will help you. Grab my coat here," he stood in front of Dean turning his back to him, found Dean's hands and put them on his own waist. "Do not let go until I tell you." And a few seconds later they were standing between huge trucks in the middle of a parking lot. Dean was still holding Cas' coat.

"You can let go now. I told you it would be easier." Cas was proud of himself.

"Don't be so cocksure," replied Dean rubbing his back. "Show me the body, we need to deal with this quickly, I'm tired, man."

Cas walked along the trucks and turned left, Dean walked right behind him looking around. There was something wrong there and he didn't know what yet. He stopped, letting Cas wander off a few more steps, to check a fragment of sparkling red fabric that got stuck in a rear bumper of a refrigerator van that was parked there. The cloth was covered with blood, and Dean put it in his pocket. When he caught Cas, the angel was standing near the wire fence behind the parking looking confused.

"The man I've found was lying here. Look, those are blood pools," Cas pointed at the ground. "But where is the man?" Dean didn't replied but crouched down and picked up another shred of red fabric. None of the monsters he met and killed before had something like that on them. He put his bag down and dug the journal out of it.

"Red rag, red rag..." He was muttering while flipping through the notes. It took him a while to find the information he was looking for. "Gotcha, son of a bitch!" Dean shouted and looked at the page he found.

"I don't think it can be called 'son', Dean. It seems more like a female."

"Oh, shut your mouth," Dean read the note closely. "It says that we need the book, its cape and blood of the last victim. We have none of them, but..." He closed the journal quickly and run back deep into the parking lot to the refrigerator van they passed by. He jumped on the step and opened the heavy door. Inside it Dean saw what he was looking for - the body of a man with no legs. He was middle aged, overweight, had a long beard and wore a black leather jacket; he reminded Dean of an old, repulsive wolf. "That's the guy you found?" he asked Cas.

"Yes. The monster had moved it here to not arouse suspicion of other people."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." replied Dean. He jumped into the van and looked at the corpse.

"There's a jar in my bag, give it to me," he said to Cas, who carried out the order, and Dean drained some blood from the man's leg, or rather what was left of it. He stood up and looked at Cas. The angel was still looking a little confused, but Dean decided not to tell him what they were chasing as it required a whole bunch of explanation, and they didn't have time for that. He jumped off the car, grabbed his bag and headed to the gas station near the parking lot.

"Dude, pray that they have this book or we're screwed," said Dean opening the door to the station. He walked between the shelves and stood in front of the smallest one which had some books people usually buy when they're bored on the road. "C'mon, they travel with children, you have to have one of these," mumbled Dean.

"That girl is reading a book, maybe it's that we're looking for," said Cas looking at the small girl who was sitting on a chair behind the counter.

"Yeah, right. We're not that lucky," said Dean throwing books around.

"But it has 'red' in title, like the red rag you found, right?" Dean turned around and run to the kid.

"Show me that," he said and snatched the book from girl's hands. She started to cry, and the cashier run to them screaming something. Dean didn't pay attention to the guy. He was looking at the title, and Cas had to calm the man down.

"I'll give you... five bucks for that book," Dean said to the girl, and suddenly she stopped crying.

"Fifteen, or I start crying again," said the girl with a sly look on her face.

"Ten, and a pack of gum, you devious little creature" he grabbed a pack from the shelf next to him.

"Deal," said the girl and waited for Dean to rummage in his pocket and give her the money. He throw them at the girl, put some change for the gum on the counter and walked out not waiting for Cas. Near the station he noticed a bar with motorbikes parked in front of it. That was exactly what he was looking for, so he run over there and hid around the corner. Cas followed him rustling with his coat.

"Are we waiting for someone? Who is it?" Cas asked Dean.

"I don't know yet, but when he walks out, follow me and do exactly what I tell you," answered Dean and looked behind the corner. A group of tipsy motorbikers went out of the bar and started to get on their bikes. One of them staggered away to piss on the huge wheel of a truck parked there, and suddenly, without any sound, he disappeared. None of his friends noticed it.

"Now!" Dean shouted and run with Cas following in his steps. They got to the truck, turned right and run along it. At the end of it, Dean noticed the red fabric showing from the corner, so he stopped. Cas bumped into him.

"You told me to follow you," he whispered in his ear. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Hold that, and use it, when I tell you," he gave Cas the jar and the book. Then he started to climb on the truck.

"When I show you, just go there, and distract it," he whispered. He climbed on the roof and gave Cas the signal to go.

"Hey, assbutt," shouted Cas and jumped out of the corner of the truck. The monster stopped tearing out the flesh of the leg of the killed man and looked at Cas with fury in its big, yellow eyes. Then, wheezing and growling, it stood up and showed enormous teeth in its snout. Cas made two steps back and let the monster come closer. Dean waited for that moment. He jumped down from the roof of the track and knocked down the monster. He didn't have enough time to stand up as the monster turned around, hissed at him and spat his jacket. It's long arms grabbed Dean and the creature tried to turn him upside down to bite into his feet.

"Cas, now!" Dean shouted and gathered all his strength to grab the red cape and cut it off the monster's neck with his knife. At the same time, Cas poured the blood from the jar onto the book and set it on fire. The monster made a horrible sound but didn't let Dean out of its talons. Dean struggled with it and stabbed it in the foot, right between two hairy toes, so the monster loosened its grip. Dean managed to free himself and he run to Cas, throwing the cape into the fire in front of the angel. The creature went crazy with pain and started to run away, but after a few steps it suddenly burnt down. All it left, was a pile of ashes. Dean sat on the ground and breathed deeply. Cas stood next to him wiping his coat.

"So close," said Dean and looked at his friend.

"I've never seen a creature like that, what was that? And what was that book, Dean?" Cas finally could ask the questions he had in his mind.

"Little Red Riding Hood. And that's the answer to both of your questions," said Dean and stood up. "It eats men's legs so that they can't get to the granny. I always knew fairy tales are crap, but this was too much, man. I need sleep."

"You need to take a shower, because you don't smell good. Let me take you to the motel."

At the same moment Sam was turning the key in the lock, Dean opened his eyes. He raised his head and looked at his brother. Sam didn't pay attention to him until Dean got up and sat on his bed. Sam gave him a cup.

"You look horrible, where have you been all night?" Sam asked him. Dean took a sip of the coffee, looked at his clothes and sniffed himself. Everything was okay.

"Cas took me on an adventure, and you don't want to know any more. Really, man." Dean put the cup on the shelf, laid down and fell asleep almost immediately.


End file.
